Carry On
by CharlotteBlackwood
Summary: Blaine's cousin Kelsie transfers to McKinley with her own set of drama, and she and Finn find some commonalities to bond over. MEANWHILE, Kurt and Blaine work their issues out. (STARTS AFTER GREASE EPISODES) Klaine, Finn/OC *NOTE: No Blinn, in case you thought that's what that meant
1. Love is a Killer

**A/N: This is my first and ONLY **_**Glee**_** fic. I don't really watch the show, but I watched the **_**Grease**_** episodes, and my creativity was piqued. My amazing friend Auni, who has seen every episode, has agreed to be my content editor for this piece, so hopefully it won't disappoint any diehard **_**Glee**_** fans out there, unless I'm destroying your ship or something. If I do, sorry. This is for poor sweet Finn who had his heart ripped out of his chest. Just sayin'. Klaine fans won't be disappointed.**

** -C**

Blaine dropped his book-bag so sharply to the ground that Marley jumped with surprise and Finn looked at him, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Something you'd like to share, Blaine?" Finn asked.

"What?" Blaine said, looking up with surprise to find the whole choir room watching him expectantly. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just... Well, my cousin is transferring to McKinley."

"Can she sing?" Tina asked.

"Yeah," Blaine said, kicking his heels against the floor and looking up at the clock for a moment.

"Bit of a weird time of year to transfer, isn't it?" Kitty said, wrinkling her nose. "Why is she changing schools? Did she kill somebody?"

"She broke up with her boyfriend," Blaine muttered, looking down at the floor again.

There was a confused, tense silence in the choir room for a moment before Jake said, "She's changing schools for _that_?"

"She's changing states, actually," Blaine sighed, scratching his jaw awkwardly. "They're coming here from Virginia."

The awkward stiffness returned as glee club members exchanged confused and surprised looks, and Finn saw that this could get off topic fast if he didn't rein it in, so he turned to Blaine and said, "I'm sure we'll be happy to welcome your cousin to McKinley."

"Kelsie," Blaine muttered. "Her name's Kelsie."

Once they were done for the day, Blaine stayed after to help rearrange the room with Finn.

"It was Cooper's idea," Blaine explained with a sigh. "She has this thing... she keeps dating teachers. Aunt Jennifer has sent her to several expensive therapists, but apparently she just sits there and stares at the wall, won't talk to any of them. Cooper thinks putting her in a different setting will fix whatever's wrong."

"Wait, so this boyfriend she broke up with," Finn said slowly.

"Her psychology teacher, ironically," Blaine said with a nod. "My dad says it's my job to watch out for her, but all I can say is it's a good thing Will's in D.C. because he's just her type."

Finn thought that the glee club could be helpful for Kelsie, as it had been for a lot of other people, but he didn't say anything because Blaine was already under a lot of strain between his failing relationship with Kurt and the obvious pressures put on him by his family to sort out his cousin.

"We'll figure it out," Finn said as they were leaving. "Don't worry. We'll figure it out."

Blaine just nodded numbly, thanking Finn absently and walking away in a daze.

/-/

Finn tossed the wrench back into the tool box and wiped off his sweaty hands just as a tow-truck pulled one of the most impressive cars he'd ever seen into the garage.

It was a fully-restored navy blue Plymouth Barracuda, and the girl that hopped out of the passenger's side of the truck was equally impressive. She hand long, brown hair, sort of like Rachel's, but darker, with knee-high black leather boots over yellow jeans and a cropped leather jacket over a royal blue tank top.

"I need a new transmission," she said forcefully, looking him up and down as he realized had done to her.

Finn blinked, looking back up at her strongly-featured and yet attractive face. It was almost like looking at a rougher, younger version of Rachel.

"I'll take a look," he finally managed to say, glancing at the car.

"I need a new transmission," she said demandingly. "It's a '67, and I want the closest to original parts you can get. I'm willing to wait and even pay extra."

Judging from the amount of real leather she was wearing, he didn't think that paying extra was going to be a problem for her, but he wasn't about to take it on her word that it was the transmission. He needed to do his job.

Twenty minutes later, he was ready to declare that it was a transmission problem and that she did, indeed, need a new transmission.

"I'll have to do some searching for a transmission that meets your requirements," Finn said. "Is there a way I can reach you, Ms...?"

"Anderson," she said firmly. "Call me Kelsie."

"Oh!" Finn said, blinking and looking her up and down again. "You're Blaine's cousin?"

"Oh, you know Blaine?" she said, her voice suddenly much softer, her face lighting up. "Yeah, he's my favorite cousin."

"Yeah, he mentioned you," Finn said, thinking that maybe Cooper had the right idea of putting her with Blaine. She obviously looked up to him. "I'm running the glee club he's in this year."

She looked Finn up and down once more and he got the strange feeling like he was being looked at like a chef looks at a fine piece of steak, trying to decide how best to cook it. He would have taken a step back if he hadn't wanted to offend her.

"Sounds fun," she said casually. "So what's the quickest way to walk to his place from here?"

Finn glanced at the clock.

"Tell you what," he said, "I'll give you a ride. My shift's almost over and you shouldn't have to walk there. Let me go make a note of your work order and I'll be right back."

He didn't know why he'd offered to take the girl to Blaine's house, especially after the way she had looked at him, but he made a note of her work order and grabbed his keys anyway, leading her out to his car and shocking himself by getting the door for her.

/-/

Kelsie pulled out her phone and answered a few messages as Finn, as he introduced himself, pulled out of the garage's parking lot and started on the way to Blaine's house.

"So," he said when she put the phone back in her jacket pocket. "Blaine said you're from Virginia."

"Yeah," she said, looking out the window at the houses they were passing. "Alexandria."

"So by Washington, then," he said, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel as they drove. "Our glee club coach is in Washington fighting for arts programs."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said you were running the glee club."

"I am, while he's gone," Finn said quickly. "He asked me to take care of it."

Kelsie just nodded, running her finger experimentally along the arm rest on the door of the car. When they pulled into a driveway she hopped out quickly, following Finn do the door where he rang the bell.

Blaine opened it, blinking at them for a moment.

"Um, come in," he said finally. "How-?"

"She brought her car by the garage," Finn explained. "She was going to walk so I offered to drive her instead. Quicker."

"Right," Blaine said slowly. "Did you have something to do, Finn, or do you-?"

"I've got some... some stuff to do," Finn said with a shrug. "I should get going. It was... it was nice meeting you, Kelsie."

"Pleasure," she said, watching him turn and go as Blaine led her into the next room. "Sorry, my transmission died or I would have been here sooner."

"It's fine," Blaine sighed. "Cooper's coming over for dinner, wants to see you before you start at McKinley."

"Yeah, he said something about that," Kelsie said awkwardly, sitting down on the couch. "How's... how's your boyfriend?"

Blaine winced, looking down at the carpet.

"Kurt and I broke up," he muttered. "He's... Well, I sort of screwed up and hooked up with someone else and it was stupid but Kurt's not forgiving me for it and he's in New York anyway and..."

He looked up at her with his big brown eyes full of pain.

"You really love him, don't you?" Kelsie said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder delicately.

"He's my soul mate, Kelsie, I'm sure of it," Blaine sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do without him."

Kelsie bit her tongue.

As much as she'd tried to explain to people that Christopher Parker had been her soul mate, nobody listened. Nobody wanted to see him as anything but her teacher. She didn't see the taboo of her relationship with Christopher as anything different from Blaine's relationship with Kurt was, but nobody else saw it that way, even Blaine.

"I guess we'll have to convince him that you're soul mates, then," she said with a smile. "That way you two can go back to being adorable like you were in all those pictures you sent me."

He gave her a sad smile that didn't exactly inspire confidence.

That night at dinner, Kelsie sat down with Blaine's family and picked at the chicken set in front of her by Cooper.

"How are you doing, porcupine?" he said, sitting down beside her.

Kelsie faked a smile.

"Great," she said.

She nearly threw the chicken at him. Cooper hadn't called her porcupine since she was about seven. It wasn't that she didn't like him calling her that, it was more because he was trying to get her to open up just by bringing up fond childhood memories.

The shrinks had tried that, too.

It hadn't work for them, either.

"So Blaine says you met Finn," Cooper pressed. "You should join the glee club, porcupine. You've got a beautiful voice."

Blaine nodded.

"We could use you for the competition," he said. "We lost some really great seniors and they need replacing properly. Some of these new kids just don't have the chops."

Kelsie sighed.

She knew they were going to try to talk her into joining their glee club when she moved to McKinley. Cooper had used it as a selling point when convincing her parents to move her to Ohio in the first place.

"I'll think about it," she said diplomatically. "Blaine, could you pass the potatoes?"

Her uncle was watching her silently as Cooper went on about his latest commercial, obviously wanting to say something to Kelsie but either not wanting to say it in front of his sons or thinking it wouldn't make a difference. She was hoping for the latter.

Unfortunately, as soon as dinner was cleared and Kelsie was gathering her things, her uncle cornered her.

"Kelsie, we need to talk."

"No, we don't," she said breezily, turning toward the door.

"Your boyfriend sent me an email the other day," he growled.

She froze in her tracks, heart pounding.

"Christopher?" she said softly. "He's... he..."

"I don't know how he got my information," her uncle said, "and I don't want to know, but the fact is I told him very plainly that he was not to contact anyone in this family for any reason or I would personally press charges. Do you understand, Kelsie?"

Her nostrils flared slightly as she fought the urge to scream at him for interfering in her life, but she just nodded stiffly, still turned toward the door.

"Good," he said softly. "I told your mother you'd be walking home. They're just down the street. You know the number?"

She nodded again, walking out the door and turning the direction she assumed her new house would be in. As she walked along, she sang to herself.

_Only a fool believes it's better to have loved and lost_

_Than never to have loved at all._

_So I don't wanna take that fall._

_It's a long, long, long way down._

_I'm hurt, love struck me down again,_

_Enticed me in and pulled the pin,_

_Blew my tender heart sky high._

_Now in my pain I'm asking why as I'm crying._

_Should I give it my last try, or say goodbye?_

_Love is a killer, a homicidal fiend._

_Love is a killer, it'll be the death of me._

_I've got a target on my back for a Cupid dressed in black._

_Love is a killer. It's killing me._

_Love, so sweetly beckoning,_

_I've seen your face, called your name._

_I've tasted tears you've cried._

_Lived in shadows in my mind, frozen here inside._

_Don't leave me here to die._

_Love is a killer, a homicidal fiend._

_Love is a killer, it'll be the death of me._

_I've got a target on my back for a Cupid dressed in black._

_Love is a killer. It's killing me._

_You fascinate yet frustrate,_

_Demand so much of me, yeah._

_I've had enough._

_It's tearing me up inside._

_Cross my heart, hope to survive._

_You got a smoking gun._

_Well, don't choke me up._

_No, oh, woah._

_Love is a killer, a homicidal fiend._

_Love is a killer, it'll be the death of me._

_I've got a target on my back for a Cupid dressed in black._

_Love is a killer. It's killing me._

_Love is a killer, no - oh,_

_Love is a killer, no - oh,_

_No._

_Love is a killer, it's killing me._

She sighed, walking the driveway of a cute little house with the right number on it, ringing the doorbell and leaning against the blue-painted wood of the house while she waited for her mother to answer the door.

"Kelsie!" Jennifer Anderson said, greeting her daughter. "Cooper called, said your car broke down."

Kelsie knew that it had been her uncle, not Cooper, who had called, but she knew that her mother wasn't fond of her brother-in-law and preferred to talk about her nephews instead.

"Needs a new transmission," she said with a shrug. "It's in a garage. I can ride with Blaine to school."

"I suppose that's true," her mother said judiciously.

"Is dad home?" she asked. "I need to talk with him about paying for the transmission when the garage gets one in."

"I'll talk to him, dear," Jennifer said. "He didn't know when to expect him back. How was dinner?"

"The chicken was dry!" Kelsie snapped, annoyed that the conversation was continuing. "Third door on the left?"

"Yes!" her mother called after her as she ran up the stairs, finding her room and sitting down on the bed her mother must have made while she was out driving.

Kelsie sighed, unzipping her boots and tossing them toward the closet in the front corner of the room. She pulled off her jacket and then threw it on top of some of the boxes stacked between her bed and the desk in the corner. She was cold then, so she found the heater and turned it up a bit, flinging herself back onto her bed.

She wanted to call Christopher, but she didn't think her uncle was kidding about legal action.

And anyway, Christopher hadn't as much as texted her since she was dragged out of Alexandria in the middle of the night to take her away from him.

They had sat her down and tried to tell her that he was dangerous, that he had left some scary messages on the answering machine, that he had threatened her father...

But Kelsie didn't believe it.

Why would he leave evidence, if he was doing illegal things like that, and if he had really done such things, where was their evidence now? Why wouldn't they play it back for her to hear?

No, they were just looking for an excuse to break up her relationship.

She was a bit tired of it, really, which was why she was holding on so tightly to Christopher. They'd broken up her relationships in the past with lesser reasoning, but she was nearly an adult now and she wasn't going to be told who she could or couldn't be with. It really wasn't fair.

Blaine should understand. He had to understand.

If there was one thing Kelsie had always been sure of, it was that she and Blaine would always understand each other perfectly, no matter what the world though.

But that was before she started keeping secrets, and how could she tell him everything anymore? How could she tell him... _that_?

Kelsie got up to peel off her clothes, tossing them onto the floor to be dealt with in the morning. She turned off the light and climbed into bed, snuggling the teddy bear Cooper had gotten her for her fourth birthday. She had been sleeping with it ever since, any time she climbed into her own bed.

There was a lot of expectation on her now, between the issues with her love life (if you could really call them issues) and the hopes for her new life in Ohio, and of course, this ridiculous suggestion that she join glee club.

But then, Cooper usually gave great advice, and Blaine seemed to want her to join, too. It would be nice to have something to focus on, something to pour her energy and angst into that wouldn't turn into her actually physically hurting herself or someone else.

And she did sing, although she'd never been a dancer. She'd spent what felt like her whole life in voice lessons, but she'd never had any desire to do anything that involved dancing.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She shot off a quick text to Blaine that she would audition for the glee club the next day, and then she curled up once more, readjusting her covers and holding her teddy bear tightly and drifting off to sleep while trying to decide what to wear in the morning.

/-/

Finn sat down on his bed, flexing his hands against the edge of the bed and looking at the picture of him and Rachel just a few weeks before graduation. She was smiling up at him with that beautiful Rachel Berry smile and he realized he didn't want to look at it anymore.

With determination he put the picture in a drawer and turned away from the empty bedside table, rolling under the covers and turning the lamp off without a second look at the space where the picture used to be.

**A/N: Lyrics are from Vixen's **_**Love is a Killer**_**.**


	2. Impossible

Blaine pulled in right when he said he would the following morning, but Kelsie wasn't ready, as usual. He went inside quietly with the spare key her mother had had made for his family, just in case, knowing that Aunt Jennifer would still be asleep.

Kelsie was pulling on a pair of jeans while hopping toward the kitchen.

"Hi, Blaine!" she stage whispered as she hopped. "My hair took longer than usual. Have you had breakfast?"

He just shook his head, following her into the kitchen, more to make sure she didn't hurt herself by knocking over something sharp than because of food.

Apparently, he needn't have worried.

"It looks like we've got toast and toast," she groaned. "With jam, because my mother's packed away the knives somewhere illogical, of course."

"Why don't you zip up your pants and I'll get us toast," he said softly, glancing at the stairs as she knocked over a chair she walked backwards into to make sure that his aunt hadn't been woken up by the noise.

"Don't worry about her," Kelsie said with a snort as she ran her fingers through her hair a little, tossing it over one shoulder and sitting on the chair she'd righted. "She's on sleeping pills now, so she wouldn't wake up if the house was burning down. Literally."

Blaine frowned.

"Is it okay to leave her here alone?" he asked, pouring himself some milk and Kelsie some apple juice.

Kelsie shrugged.

"Should be, she'll be up in another hour or so and she'll find an empty house. It's like waking up to a wonderland for her."

Blaine tried not to roll his eyes as he ate the toast quickly, trying to provide a visual hint to Kelsie, who was eating her toast casually as she applied mascara one-handed while looking in the mirror over the kitchen sink.

No dice.

"Kelsie, we need to go," he said firmly. "We're going to be late."

She whined through her toast, but she quickly finished her mascara, downed the rest of her juice, and tossed her bag over her shoulder as she stuffed the toast in her mouth followed Blaine out to his car.

"So, what should I do for this audition thing?" she asked through a bite of toast as Blaine raised his eyebrow, prompting her to put on her seatbelt. "What? I know how you drive. I'm not going to need it."

She put it on anyway, though, because she knew he wouldn't start the car until she did.

"As for the audition," he said when they were finally underway, "just do whatever feels right. I've heard you sing, they can't turn you down."

"This Finn is the one judging me?" she asked, wiping a bit of jam that was trying to escape her toast onto her finger and sticking it into her mouth.

"Well, yeah, the club at large too, though," he said slowly. "But mostly Finn."

He watched her as they talked about Finn, thinking she would show some signs of romantic interest in him, not sure it that would be a good or bad thing, but from what Cooper and Aunt Jennifer had said, she was so hung up on this teacher that she hardly saw anyone else.

"Where do I go first?" Kelsie asked, getting out of the car when he parked it in front of McKinley.

"Guidance," Blaine said. "Pillsbury. She's really nice, you'll like her."

"Sure," Kelsie said sarcastically, and he remembered that she didn't like overly nice people.

"Not like that," he groaned. "Just... just go to the guidance counselor and I'll see you around, okay?"

/-/

Kelsie followed the instructions Blaine had given her to meet this Pillsbury lady who was supposed to be the guidance counselor. Honestly, though, the woman shared a name with the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Kelsie was expected to believe that the woman was really nice but 'not like that'?

Blaine had obviously lost his marbles.

She didn't want to judge him too harshly, though, because she knew that he had really cared deeply about Kurt, so maybe he really was losing his marbles over that whole situation.

Kelsie turned a corner and found herself face-to-face with a pretty but perpetually surprised-looking red-haired woman.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I'm a new student," Kelsie said, assuming from the sweet voice that this woman had to be Pillsbury. "Kelsie Anderson. My cousin told me to see you first."

"Oh, yes!" she said with a smile. "Kelsie. Your mother called the other day. I've got your schedule all ready for you, to your mother's specifications. Here, let me find it for you."

The woman flipped through a few manila file folders as Kelsie wrung her hands together absently.

She probably should have expected her mother's behavior. Still, Kelsie hadn't ever moved to a new school, and so even things she probably should have expected were bound to end up coming as a bit of a surprise.

"Here we go," Pillsbury Dough Lady (who was actually rather attractive and trim) said to Kelsie, handing her the schedule. "Do you have any questions or-"

"Where's my first class?" Kelsie interrupted abruptly.

Those extra-large blue eyes blinked.

Pillsbury explained the quickest way to get there and Kelsie nodded, figuring that she could pay enough attention on the way to figure out where her other classes were without having to ask for directions.

Kelsie hated asking for directions, especially asking people who she would have to get to know, like fellow students. If she could see a way out of it she would always avoid asking.

She followed the route that Pillsbury Dough Lady had told her to very carefully, not wanting to get lost and have to ask again, and then Kelsie just found herself counting down the minutes until she would be able to audition for glee club, which was strangely becoming something she was looking forward to instead of dreading.

It had to be some sort of brainwashing.

/-/

Finn tapped his pencil absently on the piano, watching the door as everyone came into the room, ready for another day of glee club. It was still a bit surreal, being in that choir room without Rachel...

But he wasn't thinking about Rachel anymore. She was already crying over another boy and she didn't need him in New York. He wasn't going to be stuck in Lima thinking about her when she was in New York thinking about someone else. He had sworn to himself that he was going to get over her, and that was exactly what he planned to do.

"Blaine," Finn said happily as he saw his friend walk in with Kelsie beside him, her eyes darting around the choir room, considering it. She had the air about her of a girl who was hard to please, so he didn't expect much when her nose crinkled slightly in distaste. Finn knew there was nothing wrong with the choir room and he didn't need a spoiled brat to telling him otherwise. Judging from her car the girl had never been told 'no' in her life until she was forced to move because of her stupid love life.

"Finn," Blaine said, nodding to Kelsie, who greeted Finn wordlessly, following Blaine over to a take a seat.

Well, Finn could tell that Blaine was in a much better mood than he had been previously, so that counted for something.

When everyone arrived, Finn clapped his hands and said, "Everybody, this is Blaine's cousin, Kelsi. She's auditioning for the glee club. Do you... do you want a bit of time to warm up or-?"

She shook her head, standing.

"I'm ready whenever you are," she said, the edge in her tone standing out as it had in the garage when she was telling him what to do.

Finn was just beginning to wonder if the girl would be more trouble than she was worth when she began to sing.

_I remember, years ago_

_Someone told me I should take_

_Caution when it comes to love._

_I did, I did._

_And you were strong and I was not._

_My illusion, my mistake._

_I was careless, I forgot._

_I did._

_And now when all is done there is nothing to say._

_You have gone and so effortlessly_

_You have won, you can go ahead_

_Tell them, tell all I know now._

_Shout it from the rooftops._

_Write it on the skyline._

_All we had is gone now._

_Tell them I was happy_

_And my heart is broken._

_All my scars are open._

_Tell them what I hoped would be_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible._

_Falling out of love is hard,_

_Falling for betrayal is worse._

_Broken trust and broken hearts,_

_I know, I know._

_And thinking all you need is there._

_Building faith on love and words._

_Empty promises will wear._

_I know, I know._

_And when you're gone there is nothing to say_

_And if you're done with embarrassing me_

_On your own you can go ahead_

_Tell them, tell them all I know now._

_Shout it from the rooftops._

_Write it on the skyline._

_All we had is gone now._

_Tell them I was happy_

_And my heart is broken._

_All my scars are open._

_Tell them what I hoped would be_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible._

_I remember years ago_

_Someone told me I should take_

_Caution when it comes to love._

_I did._

_Tell them all I know now._

_Shout it from the rooftops._

_Write it on the skyline._

_All we had is gone now._

_Tell them I was happy_

_And my heart is broken._

_All my scars open._

_Tell them what I hoped would be_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible,_

_Impossible, impossible._

_I remember years ago_

_Someone told me I should take_

_Caution when it comes to love._

_I did._

There was applause around the room and Finn just watched her as she calmly sat down after pouring what seemed like every emotion she had ever felt into that performance. Shouldn't she be exhausted? Shouldn't she be upset? When Rachel put on such emotional performances she would sometimes cry afterward, even if the song had nothing to do with her life.

But he wasn't going to think about Rachel.

It was an easy choice, approving Kelsie Anderson, and Finn was actually surprised that everyone was in agreement about her joining. She was good, after all, but she wasn't Rachel...

No, he wasn't thinking about Rachel. He wouldn't.

Blaine started introducing her to the various members of the glee club and she was about as charming as she'd been when she met Finn at the garage, which was to say, not terribly. She was the type to rule with an iron fist and get what she wanted with whatever means suited her. Judging from her car he thought she hadn't really had to work for anything a day in her life, and unlike him, she'd probably been in training for singing since she was old enough to string together notes and make a tune. In a way, she made Finn think a bit of Blaine's brother, Cooper, but there was something different that he couldn't put his finger on.

As they were cleaning up later that day, though, Blaine stayed to help and Kelsie stood there, waiting, because Blaine was probably her ride.

Kelsie was arrogant, there was no denying that. He was fairly certain that she had no interest in actually being in the glee club, that she was merely joining because of pressures from her family. But he did know that, as Will had said, it could be good for people to join the glee club, even if they didn't know it when they started out. After all, Finn was a shining example of that, and he hoped that maybe it would help her sort through whatever was going on in her life.

Then again, maybe she and Kitty would get a bit too close and make everybody else's life a living hell.

/-/

Kelsie got out of the car quickly, calling her thanks to Blaine as she slammed his car door and rushed inside. Her mother was working on dinner.

"Oh, there you are, dear," she said. "Could you unpack some of the boxes in your room? Your father wants us fully moved in as soon as possible."

Kelsie frowned slightly.

"Sure, I guess. School was fine, thanks for asking."

"You auditioned for the glee club?"

"Yeah, I made it. It was fine."

"That's good, dear, now do as I've asked. Dinner's at six. Be sure to wash."

Kelsie sighed, running up the stairs to her new bedroom, fighting the urge to throw something as she found the nearest box and sliced through the packaging tape with her thumbnail. She'd purposefully taken off the nail polish she'd been wearing before the move so that she would be able to that without making her polish sticky.

She opened the box and reprimanded herself for not labeling things more carefully. It was full of manuals and car magazines. It wasn't that she wasn't pleased to see them, but they weren't her priority for unpacking. Kelsie set the box aside and grabbed the next one.

This box had shirts in it, so she set about unpacking and putting her things in the drawers, on the shelves, in the closet. It took a while to find the box with school supplies and desk organizers, but she finished setting up her desk when her mother called and said that it was time for dinner.

Kelsie checked her phone and found that, yes, sure enough, it was six o'clock and she had completely lost track of time. She hurried down the hall to wash her hands before running downstairs to the kitchen for food.

Her mother was putting out the silverware and Kelsie sat down in her place, looking at the casserole of questionable composition in the center of the table.

"Is Dad home yet?" Kelsie asked.

"He called," her mother said stiffly. "He's running late. It's just us for a little while longer."

Kelsie wanted to say something snarky, but she bit her tongue. She could tell that her mother was under a lot of stress and it wouldn't help matters to be heaping her distaste for the situation onto her shoulders.

"Lovely," Kelsie finally sighed when her mother sat down and began dishing up food. They ate in virtual silence, occasionally asking for the other to pass this or that, the sound of forks clanking against glass plates ringing in the air. Kelsie was just about to get up and go pretend she was doing the Spanish homework she'd finished in class when the front door opened and her father arrived home, peeling off his coat and putting it on the coat rack her mother must have put up on the wall at some point while Kelsie was unpacking.

"I'm home," he called, walking into the kitchen and washing his hands quickly before sitting down in his spot. "How were your days?"

"Good," her mother said brightly. "Very productive. I should be through the boxes by the end of the week."

"I thought we were going to get those done by Thursday," he said a bit stiffly.

Kelsie looked over at her mother, who dampened slightly before saying, "I'll do my very best, Richard. It's very difficult without any help, but I'm still shooting for Thursday."

"Excellent," he said with a small, business-like smile. "Kelsie, how was this glee club?"

"Fine, I'm in," she said with a shrug.

"Well of course you are," he said, as though she had just said that she knew how to walk. "Do you have a solo yet?"

"Ah, no," Kelsie replied, getting more casserole, more to pick at than anything. "They want Blaine to do the solo for sectionals, which makes since because he's been here. They know him, they know what he sings well. But they might have me lead one of the songs with another girl. Finn suggested a few songs he wants me to look over with a girl next week. First they just want me to get comfortable."

"That's ridiculous," her father scoffed. "You don't need coddling. You've been taking lessons since before most of these people were probably able to do proper cursive."

"Oh, children don't learn cursive these days," her mother said helpfully. "They text."

"Yes, I know," he replied tersely. "That was part of the point."

Kelsie thought to point out that it wasn't a very good point if he was saying that they still didn't know cursive, since that would mean that she could have started lessons that morning. But instead she just poked at her casserole, knowing it wouldn't do much good.

"Well, I'm in the glee club," she said with a sigh. "That's what you wanted. I'll work from there. May I be excused? I have a Spanish assignment and I want to get to bed at a reasonable time."

"They work you hard in this school?" her father asked expectantly.

She didn't know why he would think that McKinley High would be the Mecca of educational excellence, but she just nodded and he told her that she was excused. Kelsie got up, scraped her plate, and washed her hands quickly before running up to her room once more.

She'd only gotten through half her boxes, but she didn't have the energy to continue with that. Throwing herself on her bed, Kelsie picked up her phone one more time that night to check and see if she'd been contacted at all by anyone from back home... more specifically the man she had been told not to talk to.

But there was nothing.

With a sigh, Kelsie tossed the phone aside and got up, quickly changing into pajamas before crawling into bed and hoping for an uneventful day and maybe a text that she was trying so hard not to get her hopes up for.


	3. Actions and Motives

Kelsie was adjusting very well to McKinley, and Finn had her sit down with Kitty so that they could get to know each other before they would have to start working together on the piece he and Kitty had picked out for Sectionals.

"I'll leave you ladies alone," he said, a bit nervously. "Don't do anything that would lead to a lawsuit. Other than that, have fun, get work done, whatever."

"Yup," Kelsie said, watching him leave the room before turning to the obviously-fake blonde in front of her. "So," she sighed when the door clicked closed after him, "I don't think I caught your name."

"Kitty Wilde," the girl said boldly, and Kelsie gave her a patronizing smile that she had perfected by the time she was twelve.

"Is that your real name or your porn star name?" Kelsie said, glancing back at the door and wondering if Finn would be coming back in to see if they had killed each other or not.

"Cute," the girl said sarcastically.

The truth was, from the moment Kelsie saw the cheerleading uniform she knew they were going to have problems. Not all cheerleaders were bitches, but Kelsie had had more than her share of experience with them, and she knew the type from a mile off. Kitty was the type.

"So, tell me," Kelsie said, stretching out and crossing her legs lazily, "who have we got in this glee club and what do I have to expect?"

Kitty smiled and Kelsie couldn't help but think that this would tell her less about the other students, whom she'd already been briefed on by Blaine, but on what to expect out of Kitty.

"Well, let's see," Kitty sighed. "You know Blaine, of course. There's Artie, the kid in the wheelchair. He's been around for forever, friends with Finn. There's Ryder, the football cutie. He and I actually joined the club last week. Brittany's another Cheerio. She's a very good dancer, but she's very, very stupid."

"How stupid?" Kelsie asked, smiling to herself.

"Well, she was a senior last year, but she wasn't allowed to graduate," Kitty snorted. "You do the math. Jake... Jake's mine. Got it?"

"I've got it," Kelsie sighed. "I'm not interested in dating here anyway. That's what got me into this hell hole in the first place."

Kitty considered her for a moment, perhaps trying to decide whether she was telling the truth or not before continuing.

"Sam's pretty stupid too, but he's very close with Brittany. Nice guy. Whatever. Marley Rose... well, Marley is horrible."

Kelsie raised her eyebrow.

"What's so horrible about her?"

"She keeps trying to steal my boyfriend," Kitty growled. "And it's only a matter of time before she blows up to be a fat cow like her mother. I don't get what he could possibly see in her."

Kelsie tried to rack her brains to remember Marley, but she didn't have to think too hard. Nobody in the glee club had been what Kelsie would have considered in danger of being grossly overweight.

"Anyway, there's Unique... Wade... Whatever. She's a he, but she wants to be a she."

"Transgender?"

"Cross-dresser. It's weird, I don't even know."

"Right," Kelsie sighed. "Who else?"

"Tina," Kitty said slowly. "I really don't even know what to say about Tina except that she clearly wants more solos, so she's not going to like you."

"Why not?" Kelsie asked, smirking.

"Because you're better than her!" Kitty laughed. "Blaine's better than her, Brittany's better than her... She's not got a prayer of any big solos at sectionals. The other one is Joe."

"And what about Joe?" Kelsie asked, twirling her hair around her finger. "What's he like?"

"They call him Teen Jesus," Kitty muttered, smirking. "Whatever. He's bizarre. He hardly ever gets solos."

"All right," Kelsie said slowly. "So, do you know what song Finn's got us working on?"

"He said it's probably going to be a Ke$ha piece," Kitty said with a shrug. "He hasn't decided which one yet, so I can't say for sure. I guess he said that the theme was 'Modern', whatever that means."

Kelsie could think of a dozen catty responses to that, but for Blaine's sake she bit them back. It would only make things harder in the future, pulling out her cards now.

No, there was nothing to like about Kitty Wilde, and Kelsie suspected that every bit of the girl was as fake as the blonde in her hair. Kelsie could be accused of many things herself, and was guilty of almost all of them, but fake wasn't one of them. She certainly could have been, practically idolizing Cooper until she was about ten. He was the king of fake.

But Kelsie grew up and grew smart and she had never really allowed herself to be fake.

"Do you think we can go now?" Kelsie said after twenty more minutes locked in a room with the girl. "I'm feeling a bit tired of this."

"Yeah, I guess so," Kitty said, picking up her bag. "See you around."

"Yup, you too," Kelsie said, and they walked to the door together, stopping when she saw that Finn was pushing the door open.

"Oh, you're done, then?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kitty said. "I'm going home."

"Right," Finn said, and Kitty pushed past him without another word. Kelsie raised her eyebrows and laughed as she watched the girl leave.

"Well, then," he laughed, turning to Kelsie. "Do you need a ride? Blaine needed to take Sam to pick up some things. He told me to check with you because he doesn't know when he's going to be done."

"Oh," she sighed. "Yeah, I guess a ride would be nice, if it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all," Finn assured her. "What did you think of Kitty?"

"I thought..."

"Honestly," he prompted her with a smile.

"Well, in that case I thought she was a bit of a bitch," Kelsie laughed. "Lead onward!"

Finn just smiled, walking off toward the parking lot, Kelsie in tow.

/-/

He wasn't sure how he had her in his car for the second time already since he met her, or even why, but Finn wasn't finding himself with any reasons to complain. Instead, he looked over at Kelsie as she stretched out in the passenger seat and gave him the quick directions to her house, which was surprisingly close to Blaine's house.

"So," he sighed, turning on the car and putting it in gear, "how did you find your time with Kitty?"

"I hate her," Kelsie sighed with a shrug. "But I think our voices will blend very nicely."

He chuckled a little and said, "So how do you _really_ feel?"

She smiled a bit and then she shook her head and replied, "This is a competition. If we want to win some of us have to do things we aren't particularly fond of, and if that means I have to pretend I like Kitty Wilde, then I'll be sweet as pie."

Having personally experienced her vast change in behavior from one moment to the next based on what she wanted several times in the short while that he'd known her, Finn had no doubt that she would be up to the task.

"Any thoughts on songs you want to sing?" he asked, making another left turn.

Kelsie shrugged a little, tapping her fingers on the arm rest on the passenger door.

"Not really," she said. "What's the theme or whatever you call it?"

"Modern," Finn said slowly. "It can be anything to do with the word Modern. We've got a piece picked out that I think I'm going to have Blaine and Ryder lead, but we don't have the one for you and Kitty and we don't have Blaine's solo picked out."

Kelsie nodded, then said slowly, "I think if you just give us something in the crap Top Forty that we can actually do something with, preferably dance to because that's a strength of hers, and then maybe make it a bit edgy, I think that will work, but I honestly don't care. You're the boss."

He looked over at her and saw that she was staring out the window ahead of her blankly.

The words 'You're the boss' had been said with a dull, rote sort of tone like she'd said them a thousand times and they tasted too familiar on her tongue to care much about.

Finn had a hard time thinking about songs when he was so curious about how and what she'd said, but he filed away her suggestions for later and pulled into the driveway of her house. For a moment, he had an urge to walk her to the door, like he had when he took her to Blaine's house, but she turned and smiled at him.

"Thanks for the ride," she said. "See you tomorrow."

That cut off any thoughts he'd had of getting out and she tossed her bag over her shoulder and got out of his car, striding to the front door and letting herself in without a glance back at him.

/-/

Kelsie went to her room with a yell to her mother than she was home and began to pace, inwardly fuming at Kitty Wilde. For a brief moment in the car she had wanted to be angry at Finn for making her work with the girl, but Kelsie reminded herself she worked with worse in Virginia. With a sigh, she moved to her computer, opening her email and searching Blaine's emails for the mention of Kitty she knew was somewhere but could only vaguely recall.

And there it was, talking about various interactions between Kitty and Marley, and there was the word Kelsie hated more than most words, a word to describe Kitty that cemented Kelsie's future attitude toward the girl: Bully.

Kelsie began to pace her bedroom again, thinking over how to go about dealing with this particular girl. She didn't know her well enough to make a detailed plan, but from the little bits she'd been told and had been able to deduce, a plan was already forming. She began to hum, then to sing, as she paced.

_Wait, the fact you did it_

_And don't admit it_

_Won't make you innocent._

_Fate finds you wicked_

_And turns you victim_

_For everything you have done._

_So justify the reason to kill._

_I bet you will._

_Fooling no one but yourself._

_I wish you well._

_Oh, what tangled webs we weave_

_When we practice to deceive._

_I know you well,_

_I know you well._

_Actions and motives._

_Bear the cross, wear the crown,_

_It's just so evil you can't bleed out._

_Hell has to notice_

_Your actions and motives._

_Bear the cross, wear the crown,_

_It's just so evil you can't bleed out._

_I just don't get it,_

_How you manage to justify who dies._

_Like judge and jury,_

_You're the very one who crucifies._

_Don't get your hands dirty to kill._

_Use someone else._

_Know all your lies are measured in hell._

_I wish you well._

_Oh, what tangled webs we weave_

_When we practice to deceive._

_I know you well,_

_I know you well._

_Actions and motives._

_Bear the cross, wear the crown,_

_It's just so evil you can't bleed out._

_Hell has to notice_

_Your actions and motives._

_Bear the cross, wear the crown,_

_It's just so evil you can't bleed out._

_Can't bleed out._

_Actions and motives._

_Bear the cross, wear the crown,_

_It's just so evil you can't bleed out._

_Hell has to notice_

_Your actions and motives._

_Bear the cross, wear the crown,_

_It's just so evil you can't bleed out._

Satisfied with her plans, Kelsie then sat down at her desk, wrote Kitty's initials on a sticky note in red ink, and put it on the wall in front of her. With a cold smile, she turned away from the letters and decided to start in on her mountain of homework.

/-/

Blaine opened the drawer of his bedside table to find a picture of Kurt laughing. Just as he was about to pull it out, there was a knock at his door and he slammed the drawer closed again, telling the knocker to enter.

It was Cooper, which surprised Blaine, but he just greeted him.

"Thought you'd gone back to New York," Blaine said, tossing his coat over the foot of his bed.

"I'm leaving now," Cooper said, looking around the room almost out of some sort of social obligation. "I wanted to see Kelsie one more time before I left."

Blaine's back straightened at this, concerned.

"More news about her teacher?" Blaine asked.

He'd been more or less kept out of the news the family had gathered, mostly between Cooper, their father, and their uncle. Blaine was 'too close' to Kelsie, and they didn't want him telling her anything she shouldn't know, even if he thought he was helping her. Blaine wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed when Cooper shook his head.

"No, I told her that if she behaves and things look good in December, she can come and stay with me in New York over the break. She'll want out of here by then."

Blaine didn't think that she would, but Cooper always had this idea that she was dying to become just as 'cosmopolitan' as her eldest cousin. Sure, she'd been dressed up nicely from the time she was young and could have conceivably turned out that way, Blaine had long suspected that her tastes and desires were far more simple.

"How was she?" Blaine asked, trying to think of some reason Cooper would have bothered to come by and say goodbye when he already had a couple of days before.

"That's what I wanted to see you about," Cooper sighed, shifting slightly. "She seemed smug about something. And she's doing that sticky note thing again."

Blaine raised his eyebrows.

As a child, Kelsie had written things on sticky notes in some code only she ever really figured out. Whenever she did it she had the air of someone plotting something disastrous for days, and then she always caused some sort of chaos. Once it was cutting Cooper's hair while he was sleeping for some perceived slight. She'd called it 'justice' once to Blaine, and it was the reason Cooper had taken to calling her 'porcupine', once he got over his lost locks. She was cute, but she had surprisingly vicious defenses when provoked.

"Any idea who is facing her wrath this time?" Cooper asked, in an attempted light tone.

Blaine just shrugged and said, "You'd better hope it's not you. You know she blames you for taking her away from him. It was all your idea."

"Someday she'll thank me," Cooper said firmly. "I'm off, though. Keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'll try," Blaine replied, watching his brother leave without another word.

The truth was, Blaine was fairly certain he knew exactly who had so inspired Kelsie's ire, and he was fairly certain that Kitty thoroughly deserved it. He pulled out his phone, sent her a text that said, 'Be careful', and then he pulled Kurt's picture out of the drawer as he did nearly every day.

He'd been an idiot. He'd told himself that a dozen times and he knew it was so completely true. But surely Kurt was hurting as badly as he was. Surely Kurt was lying on a bed in New York at night, staring at the ceiling and wishing he could text Blaine until three in the morning because neither of them could sleep.

Kelsie sent him back a winking smiley face in a reply and Blaine shook his head, tossing his phone aside on the bed as he took off his shoes.

Yes, it was Kitty. She wouldn't be nearly as pleased with herself if it was anyone else he could think of. He just hoped that whatever she was planning, it wouldn't affect glee club. If there was one thing about Kitty, she was a good dancer, and Kelsie could sing like an angel, but her dancing would never match any of the Cheerios.

Blaine then realized the irony that Kelsie was the one friend of his who didn't have something they desperately wanted in New York, and she was the one being offered a free ticket for good behavior. Somehow he didn't think that Cooper would ever offer him such a ticket. But then again, Blaine wasn't in the danger that Kelsie was supposedly in.

He did wish he knew what exactly was threatened, but Kelsie's father had locked away all contact they'd gotten from her teacher in his safe, not wanting anything to happen to his precious 'evidence'.

"Oh, Kelsie," Blaine sighed, putting Kurt's picture back in the drawer, "if only you understood how desperate we all are."

Because it was true. She thought they were being mean to her, keeping her from someone she loved. But there was certainly one thing Blaine had gotten loud and clear about the threats: Kelsie's very life wasn't secure if they didn't keep her away from this man. Blaine had truly never seen Cooper so terrified as he was when he'd come to discuss options with their father. Whatever his faults, he did care, even though his methods for keeping her safe involved manipulating and bribing her.

She wasn't a child anymore, though, and Blaine had gathered very quickly that naive wasn't a word that should be used on her, at least not in conjunction with her family. Perhaps she was naive to the nature of her lover. But if anyone was capable of finding a way around the security and desperate measures put up for her safety, Blaine was sure that it was Kelsie. He turned to his homework with his stomach twisting in knots of dread.

How could he save her from herself?

**A/N: Lyrics are from **_**Actions and Motives**_** by **_**10 Years**_**.**

** -C**


End file.
